bigger the older?

[crabcrazygal]

i was just wondering, in australian crabs, if they are bigger, are they older?

[emmac350]

Every crab gets bigger as they get older (well, every animal does, to include every type of hermit crab). Every molt they have will make them bigger, although some crabs will molt, and thus grow, at a faster rate (metabolism differences, adequate diet, etc. will help them to molt and grow faster). If you compare two crabs of the same size but one was caught at that size and the other grew to that size in captivity, the one in captivity most likely is younger than the one who was caught at that size. The reason for that is mostly due to nutrition and predatory risk - the wild-caught crab had to fight for all its nutrition and molting safety, so it would have naturally molted less often than its captive counterpart, who received more than enough nutrition and didn't need to worry about being eaten while molting.

[crabcrazygal]

thx, just somthing i was thinking about the other day.